"It's like you put yourself through a strainer and got rid of the boy pulp."

I was discussing transgenderism with a friend. She asserted an opinion that got me thinking: she said that changing one's body via hormones and surgery is as superficial as changing your body to look a certain way via plastic surgery. Gender isn't all of who you are, and you have to accept your body and recognize that who you are on the inside is most important. To her, transgendered people who want to feel whole by changing their bodies are no different than flat-chested women who want to feel whole by getting breast implants.

I see her point: both beauty and gender are social constructs. They are subjective and influenced by the messages we get from our parents, peers, teachers, whatever is on the TV, etc. And the person on the inside does matter the most. As KC commented on Max's (a pre-op FTM) sex scene with Grace (she went down on him and therefore acknowledged his girl parts), it's the person and not the parts.

However, I personally do not know what it feels like to have the strong conviction that I should have a man's body; I don't think anyone who isn't transgendered can really know what that mismatch feels like. I think that if one is willing to take hormones, undergo painful surgeries, potentially be discriminated against (by even homosexuals or one's own family), potentially limit one's sexual partners, face legal issues, etc., then that conviction must be very strong. There's a lot more risk involved in transitioning to the opposite sex than there is in getting breast implants or liposuction.

Furthermore, what exactly is superficial? Isn't wearing make-up and hair products that are tested on animal superficial? (And make-up can significantly change one's appearance; just look at Oprah before and after she wears any). What about wearing clothes made in a third-world country? These actions are superficial, and they have consequences. Plastic surgery follows the same line of thought; it's just more drastic and requires more technology and money. Where does the line the divides "good" superficiality from "bad" superficiality go?

What about how women get rid of their body hair? We shave our legs, do our eyebrows, etc. We change our bodies from their natural state to be what is considered feminine. Compared to plastic surgery, this isn't a very significant change, but if the person on the inside matters, then why shave off body hair at all? Shouldn't breasts and a vagina be enough to declare one's femininity? Apparently it isn't. (I, for one, think everyone should keep all their body hair in check).

What about the pressure on women to be ridiculously thin? Taking dieting and exercising to any extreme constitutes painful, destructive means to a superficial end. And while straight men can develop eating disorders, the fact remains that thinness is a predominately female preoccupation. It doesn't even have to be an eating disorder to be unhealthy: the image of unrealistic thinness can cause varying degrees of unhappiness with oneself.

I think the desire to have one's exterior to reflect one's interior is normal and possibly innate; most people want to feel whole, congruous, and recognized for how they feel. However, how we feel on the inside, how we want to feel on the inside, and how we want to look are all partly influenced by our environment. One can focus too much on the outside and expect the external changes to fix the internal negativity.

I think any sort of plastic surgery should be carefully thought out and all the options should be weighed. It should be a last resort. It is a very significant decision; however, to label any sort of sexual reassignment surgery as superficial would require one to acknowledge the prevalence of superficiality in our everyday lives.

I will end with a quote from "Nip/Tuck" that I think is appropriate: "Don't make the mistake of healing the internal problem with an external fix."